NHL Pick: LA Kings at Anaheim Ducks

The LA Kings visit the Honda Center in Anaheim Wednesday when they take on division rivals the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks have got the best of the Kings over the last few seasons winning 7 of the last 11 meetings overall but surprisingly they have won just 8 of the last 18 meetings in Anaheim.

Head to Head Trends

Under is 7-3-3 in the last 13 meetings. Road team is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.

Anaheim Ducks (-133)

The Anaheim Ducks are 2nd in the Pacific Division with 23 points just 1 point back of the 1st place Vancouver Canucks but Anaheim does have a game in hand. The Ducks started out this season just like last season winning a lot of games. The Ducks won 7 of their first 8 games and were looking like they were probably the best team in the NHL but they have kind of stumbled a bit over the last few games. The Ducks have lost their last 3 games all of which were at home but 2 of those games went to the shootout and 1 to overtime so they could have easily won a couple of those games. The Ducks haven’t had the best offense so far this season averaging 2.6 goals per game but they do have one of the best defenses in the league allowing just 2.0 goals per game.

Anaheim Ducks Trends

Ducks are 7-2 in their last 9 games playing on 2 days rest. Ducks are 44-20 in their last 64 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400.

LA Kings (+123)

The LA Kings are 4th in the Pacific Division with 19 points 5 points out of 1st place. The Kings have been of the best home teams in the league so far this season winning 7 of their first 9 games at home but they’re quickly becoming one of the worst road teams winning just 1 of their 6 roads games so far. The Kings don’t have the best offense in the world in general but away from home this season they are averaging just 1.9 goals per game and their usually good defense is allowing 3.0 goals per game away from home so they might be in tough tonight versus as Anaheim team that is due for a win at home.

LA Kings Trends

Kings are 1-6 in their last 7 road games. Kings are 13-6 in their last 19 games playing on 3 or more days rest.

Conclusion

I’m going with the Anaheim Ducks over the Kings in this one. Even though the Ducks have lost their last 3 home games they are usually very tough to beat at home and with the Kings not playing well on the road this might be an easy win for the Ducks tonight.